The thistle
One of the oldest emblems in the Celtic tradition. Dangerous to confront carelessly; thriving in poor soil and enriching where it grows; offering full-season nectar — food and medicine — to those who know it.
A studio of small, deliberate acts
Built stone by stone, toward a larger good.
Thistle & Cairn keeps and transmits knowledge, protects the careless from harm, and accumulates the small acts that matter.
A company rooted in the basic elements of human knowledge — interdependency, community, the living world, self-knowledge, and continuous growth.
What we believe
Two old symbols, one calling
The cairn
One of the oldest human marks on earth. Built stone by stone, often by strangers for strangers — a humble, cumulative act that marks a threshold and carries accumulated wisdom forward.
&
The intersection
To keep and revive knowledge, and pass it on. To protect strangers and guide the attentive. To stay hardy in all conditions, and to gather the small acts that matter.
The work
Small projects, lasting impact
Client site · Advocacy
Local Seeds Coalition
Built client site in partnership with designer, photographers, and copywriter. Contributed design, layout, and copy.
Visit Local Seeds →
Client site · Goods
Serrated Solutions
A (then) 10 year-old cottage goods creator needed a website for product promotion for participation in holiday markets. Redesigned for the now 13 year-old's style.
Visit serratedsolutions.co →
Inhouse app · Journal
Tuiscint
Personal tracking for personal awareness. Guide your choices by better understanding where they lead; improve the patterns that determine your quality of life.
Get Tuiscint →
Inhouse site · Custom Emoji
Emojarium
Cloudflare-hosted dynamic site for uploading, sharing, and discovering custom emoji that can be used in Slack, Discord, Teams, and more.
Get More Emoji →
Inhouse app · Custom Emoji
Curatory
Custom emoji can drive a positive work culture, and Curatory is a Mac app that makes it easy to improve and expand your collection.
Get Curatory →
Inhouse site · Blog
Terry Cabeen
Personal blog created with the intention of writing more frequently, but then more fun projects took priority instead.
Read Terry's Blog →
What we do
Consulting
- Leadership & coaching
- Software & data
- Presentation & speaking
Knowledge & wisdom
- Software & application development
- Web design & development
- Fractional CTO
- Leadership coaching
Begin a conversation
Add a stone to the cairn.
Whether you're building a product, a team, or a practice — we'd like to help carry it.
hello@thistleandcairn.net